Posts Tagged ‘Eric Snow’

January 16, 2013 · 11:51 AM ET

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HANG TIME NEW JERSEY —LeBron James is 18 points away from being the 38th player in NBA history to reach the 20,000-point mark. At 28 years and 17 days old, he’ll be the youngest to do it by more than a year.

James has evolved as a player since he entered the league as an 18-year-old in 2003. But from the start, he’s been one of the most unique players in NBA history. You see it in the way he plays the game, but also in his numbers.

James doesn’t quite score like a big man, but he doesn’t score like a typical perimeter scorer either. Of his 19,982 points, 66 percent have come in the paint or at the free throw line. Of the top scorers of the past 10-15 years, that’s a higher mark than anyone but Shaquille O’Neal, Tim Duncan or Dwyane Wade.

Scoring from different areas of the floor

Player

PTS

%FT

%Paint

%Mid-range

%3P

Ray Allen

23,336

18%

26%

20%

36%

Carmelo Anthony

16,804

25%

40%

24%

11%

Kobe Bryant

30,619

25%

33%

26%

16%

Vince Carter

21,605

20%

33%

25%

22%

Tim Duncan

23,225

23%

55%

22%

0%

Kevin Durant

11,078

26%

32%

24%

17%

Kevin Garnett*

23,974

19%

41%

37%

2%

Allen Iverson

24,368

26%

36%

25%

13%

LeBron James

19,982

24%

43%

19%

14%

Dirk Nowitzki

24,293

25%

24%

35%

16%

Shaquille O’Neal*

20,577

21%

75%

4%

0%

Paul Pierce

23,317

27%

31%

20%

23%

Dwyane Wade

15,632

27%

46%

20%

6%

* Since 1996-97

James does most of his scoring on his own. Of his 19,982 points, 14,251 have come on unassisted field goals (9,540) or on free throws (4,711). In fact, since he came in the league, he’s had more unassisted field goals (4,518) than any other player in the league. Kobe Bryant ranks second with 4,102.

So, even though he spent seven seasons with one franchise (Cleveland), no teammate has assisted James on more than 630 of his points. (For comparison, note that Steve Nash assisted Amar’e Stoudemire on 2,315 of his points.)

Most assists to James

Assisted by

FG

3P

PTS

Eric Snow

292

46

630

Dwyane Wade

216

38

470

Mo Williams

204

42

450

Jeff McInnis

183

17

383

Zydrunas Ilgauskas

180

34

394

This season, James ranks third (behind Bryant and Russell Westbrook) with 217 unassisted field goals, but he’s having his best shooting season of his career. In fact, James is shooting a career high from almost every area of the floor this season. And his overall field goal percentage has increased each of the last six seasons.

LeBron James, shooting by area

Restricted Area

Paint (Non-RA)

Mid-Range

Corner 3

Above Break 3

Season

FGM

FGA

FG%

FGM

FGA

FG%

FGM

FGA

FG%

FGM

FGA

FG%

FGM

FGA

FG%

2003-04

306

534

57.3%

70

190

36.8%

183

551

33.2%

20

64

31.3%

43

150

28.7%

2004-05

400

572

69.9%

69

201

34.3%

218

603

36.2%

28

57

49.1%

80

251

31.9%

2005-06

459

689

66.6%

47

125

37.6%

242

630

38.4%

25

74

33.8%

102

300

34.0%

2006-07

409

579

70.6%

61

152

40.1%

203

580

35.0%

20

46

43.5%

78

259

30.1%

2007-08

448

645

69.5%

48

130

36.9%

185

508

36.4%

12

36

33.3%

101

321

31.5%

2008-09

405

561

72.2%

59

144

41.0%

193

524

36.8%

17

48

35.4%

115

329

35.0%

2009-10

401

541

74.1%

50

116

43.1%

188

484

38.8%

17

45

37.8%

112

338

33.1%

2010-11

364

518

70.3%

85

201

42.3%

217

487

44.6%

19

59

32.2%

72

215

33.5%

2011-12

315

427

73.8%

64

149

43.0%

188

444

42.3%

6

19

31.6%

48

130

36.9%

2012-13

189

254

74.4%

38

79

48.1%

84

207

40.6%

13

27

48.1%

35

91

38.5%

Totals

3,696

5,320

69.5%

591

1,487

39.7%

1,901

5,018

37.9%

177

475

37.3%

786

2,384

33.0%

James has scored more total points in the first quarter than any other period, but that’s a product of minutes. On a per-minute basis, he does turn the scoring up a notch in the fourth quarter or overtime.

LeBron James, scoring by quarter

Period

MIN

PTS

PTS/12

1st quarter

8,548

5,544

7.8

2nd quarter

5,529

4,141

9.0

3rd quarter

8,430

5,335

7.6

4th quarter

6,113

4,717

9.3

Overtime

263

245

11.2

Because he spent seven seasons in the Central Division, James has scored more points against the Milwaukee Bucks (1,030), Chicago Bulls (1,000) and Indiana Pacers (951) than any other team. But on a per-game basis, James has torched the Utah Jazz more than any other opponent.

LeBron James, highest scoring average by opponent

Opponent

GP

PTS

PPG

Utah

19

579

30.5

Boston

31

937

30.2

Milwaukee

35

1,030

29.4

Chicago

34

1,000

29.4

Portland

18

526

29.2

What team has held James to the fewest points per game? The Los Angeles Clippers: 23.4.

At his career pace of 27.6 points per game, James would need 245 more games to surpass Oscar Robertson (26,710), who currently ranks 10th on the all-time scoring list. At this season’s pace of 26.0 points per game, he’d need 259 more games. But between James and Robertson are six other active players, including Dirk Nowitzki (24,293), who could reach the top 10 before James does with a couple of full, healthy seasons.

At a pace of 26.0 points per game, James need 385 more games (4.7 seasons) to reach the 30,000-point plateau, which Bryant just surpassed last month. So if he doesn’t miss too many games, James could do that in the middle of the 2017-18 season, right around his 33rd birthday.

After that, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is just 8,387 points away. And if James could somehow stay healthy and keep a 26.0 points-per-game pace up, he could become the all-time leading scorer at the tender age of 37.

April 6, 2010 · 12:23 PM ET

HANG TIME HEADQUARTERS — In the days ahead you will be bombarded with NBA award picks from all over the place, some worth your time and others … not so much.

We won’t waste your time before it’s time with postseason awards around here.

But NBA TV analyst Eric Snow has presented us with a topic worthy of a healthy debate:

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Right off the top there are a few problems with this list.

Kevin Johnson at No. 10? You cannot be serious. And for the record, neither Steve Francis nor Nate Robinson qualify (on the Hang Time scale) as point guards, I don’t care that they are listed as such elsewhere.

Two of the current dunking PGs, Derrick Rose and Russell Westbrook, have a chance to climb into the Top 3 of any list.